Discord chat, fundraiser, new 'Souls store

News & Updates

Whoa! A rare unicorn! A mid-month newspost, whoaaaaHHHHHH!!

New Official 'Souls Chat

That's right! Our previous official chat has been stagnating for years. It was really buggy, ate messages unpredictably, maintenance was annoying, and barely anyone used it. Plus, lots has changed in the chat and messaging world in the last few years, so we figured we'd get with the times with our all new Discord chat!

We totally had this planned before AIM died, but hey, nice timing? :P

Fundraiser for Reginald Emojis

Did you know Discord lets us set up custom emojis? We have five adorable Reginald emojis to start with, but we need your help to unlock more. ;)

For every $100 donated to 'Souls, we'll create three more Reginald emojis for the Discord server.

The person who donates the most per $100 bracket gets to choose the mood/emotion for one of the new emoji (within reason). So for example, if Bob donated $20 and that's the highest amount of anyone that donates towards the first $100, Bob gets to choose one of the new emoji.

Additionally, everyone who donates at least $10 will get to be a special color in the chat (mint greenblueteal A COLOR, Reginald's favourite ;).

Everyone who donates at least $51 will get to be an even specialer color in chat (orange)!

As a note, Discord does not charge us for custom emojis, and we're allowed up to 50 custom emojis per server.

This fundraiser benefits 'Souls directly, and all funds go towards hosting the board, contest/event prizes, shipping contest prizes, and board promotion. Your donations let us continue to do cool things and offer cool prizes -- they also ensure we can continue to be non-discriminatory towards our wonderful international members who win contests because international shipping sure is a lot these days. :')

Incoming Host/Server Move

Techy stuff ahead! We've been meaning to do it for ages, but we're finally planning to move 'Souls to a VPS (Virtual Private Server), get a virtual private mySQL server, and dedicated IP as well. Our current host doesn't really have what we want, so we'll be changing hosts to do this.

Our current hosting plan is also a very old legacy plan, as we've been with them for a long time, so the jump to VPS is a pretty big one financially. It will cost us something around $360/year for hosting, compared to our $60/year now.

We think it'll be worth it though. A VPS will ensure we never run into database overload errors again and that our site isn't affected by other clients on a shared server. It'll also allow us to do more customisation on our server, which may lead to cool things like program and host our own Discord bot. And we'll be able to better secure our connections with HTTPS/SSL certs. Better stuff all around!

It's a lot more worth it than EZBoard Gold, anyway!

We don't currently have a timeline for this move, but it should be within a few months. The site will likely be down for 2-5 days during the process, but the board and all its posts, etc, should be safe. We'll let you know more as soon as we know more, but we wanted to give a head's up in case anyone wanted to know part of the reason for the fundraiser. :)

New 'Souls Store

Want to help 'Souls out, but also want something more for your hard-earned money? We've launched a slick new 'Souls Store for your custom title and icon needs. Purchases through the store will count towards the Fundraiser for Reginald Emojis (but not for donor chat colors), but only through the end of April!

The store currently has the usual custom titles and icons, as well as some cute acrylic charms. Keep an eye out for new button packs coming soon though! :)

'Souls Assemblage
The Few, The Proud

'Souls Assemblage

Just want to let you guys know, that when the switch to VPS server happens, please feel free to contact me any time if you have need of funds. I'm an adulty adult and a founder of 'Souls and as such I would be more than happy to pay fully or partially for the server if that is what is required of me, even if I'm not an active member. I love 'Souls and want it to continue forever a long time, and be a place for people to gather and enjoy the experience of this place!

Casa di Cavalieri
Second Cadet

Nat

S'all good, Nat! Mel and I are also both willing and able to cover any gaps in 'Souls bills come down to it, but everyone is welcome to contribute what they'd like and we super appreciate every dollar! :3

Sapient
Virtu Inter

Sunny

fighting dog of troy

Somebody save your soul

'Cause you've been sinning in this city, I know

Legacy

Fundraiser Update

$100 and $200 goals cleared!

Thanks so much for all your support, guys!! We're glad you're as excited as we are about the new chat and all these emojis! Thanks to your generosity, we've already unlocked 6 more emojis. The first three are here below! (You can blame San for the rainbow barf.)

And the next three will be done soon. We're a little over halfway to $300 and three MORE emoji. Eyyyyyy~!!

'Souls Assemblage
The Few, The Proud

'Souls Assemblage

Fundraiser Update

$300, $400, and $500 goals smashed!

You guys are amazing and we really can't express how much we appreciate all your support. We've raised enough to afford our first year of VPS and then some!

For those wondering, the fundraiser is ongoing until we've reached our 50 emoji limit, but if you're just wanting the chat donor colors, that's forever, so don't worry if you're able to contribute right away. :)

Here are the emoji for the $200 and $300 goals. You can blame Lin for Hankinald and Nat for the toot. More soon!